Senior Controls Engineer

Dephy is looking for a candidate who was born to be an engineer: someone that has an urge to understand how things work, and who gets excited when there is no known solution to the problem at hand. We are curious, creative, and passionate engineers looking for a team member to help us tackle challenges at the forefront of wearable robotics. Come help us transition mobility exoskeletons from labs and treadmills to the real world: cities, trails, and mountains.

Description of Role

Your task is easy to understand but challenging to do well: predict when the user’s foot will next touch the ground and determine how much assistive torque should be applied. There are a few constraints: it has to be done real-time on a small microcontroller, the inputs are noisy, the sensors are limited and imperfect, the terrain, gait and/or gait speed might be changing, the user adapts to your previous actions, and a machine learning algorithm with a 1% false positive rate will result in the user tripping every 100m.

As a controls engineer at Dephy you will have a direct effect on deciding the appropriate behavior of our devices while worn by a user. You will do extensive R&D to take data from our sensors, understand what a user is doing, and decide how the motors should respond. This process involves numerous iterations of analyzing data, prototyping simulated solutions, moving simulations to hardware, building custom tools, testing on people, and debugging.

Required Qualifications 

• Be a good human - get along with the team, build strong working relationships, and execute on Dephy’s Values.
• Be a technical leader that loves to solve hard problems
• Understanding of biomechanics and human locomotion
• Combine developing, debugging, and optimizing real-time software in novel ways to deliver new features that have immediate impact. You will be directly responsible for innovating and implementing new control solutions to advance our devices.
• Determines and implements the appropriate pattern recognition, heuristics, sensor fusion, data analysis, and/or machine learning techniques to address real Dephy needs.  
• Integrate high-level decision making and motion control for robotic applications.
• Help advance Dephy’s understanding of augmentation & biomechanics
• Ability to identify and solve hard problems and structural issues with creative solutions including reorganization.
• Clearly understand and predict client’s needs to create the ultimate user experience
• Scope controls work to be consistent with Dephy goals. Create, execute, and communicate plans, timelines, and resources to break high level problems into more detailed actionable steps while managing risk
• Proactively work with our multi-disciplinary team to represent the Controls Team on complex system solutions
• Support and mentor other team members.
• Responsibility, accountability, and independence are key. You will be responsible for ensuring that certain projects are successful from a controls standpoint.
• Expertise in at least 2 of the following:
• Implementation & Architecture: Adjusting and implementing quality final solutions that are computationally efficient, modular, and maintainable.
• Engineering Principles & Problem Solving: Strong knowledge of topics such as biomechanics, non-classical control, etc which allow for quick identification of problems as well as potential solutions.
• Management & Planning: Planning a project from start to finish, including creation of requirements, constraints, timelines, and methods to manage risk.
  

Desired Qualifications

•  Strong knowledge of C and Matlab, intermediate level of Python (Required for Software role)
• Experience with Git workflow and version control (Required for Software role)
• Understanding of biomechanics, human locomotion, and augmentation
• Experience with human subject testing, data collection, real-time performance tracking
• Experience with high-level “non-classical” control algorithms & techniques (MPC, LQR, Kalman filtering, etc.)
• Experience converting basic prototypes to quality implementations focused on maintainability and modularity
• Experience with walking robots, exoskeletons, and/or active prostheses
• Experience with embedded systems and microcontrollers
• Experience leading technical teams
• Teaching controls or system theory
• Previous publications or technical journal articles as primary author

Other Information

• Estimated hire date: 3/1/26
• At Dephy, our mission is to empower people to move through life with confidence. Our goal is to do this by attracting, hiring, and building a team of good humans. Humans who are diverse builders with unique collections of tools, cultures, and experiences. We celebrate our differences and foster an environment for our team to learn and ask questions. We trust and respect each other, and value the cultural contribution that we each bring to Dephy. We believe that when people feel respected and included they can be more creative, innovative, and successful. We encourage you to apply, even if you don't meet every qualification or skill.
• Candidates need to be authorized to work in the U.S.
• This position is not eligible for sponsorship of an immigration case in order to employ you (for example, H-1B or other employment-based immigration case).
• Salary and equity will be determined based on qualifications. Salary range: $130,000-$161,000
• This listing is not for reproduction. No recruiters, please, only interested candidates.
• Apply at http://dephy.com/

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (Simple IRA)
• Life Insurance
• Unlimited Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Long Term Disability
• Free Food & Snacks
• Cafeteria and Fitness Center on Site
• Dog Friendly Office